Fox Mate (Madison Wolves) (24 page)

"Then yes," Scarlett said. "If she thought it was
time, she'd have accepted, or at least tried harder to convince you to pay."

I looked around. "So, where is Chloe?"

"Oh, she went home hours ago," Abigail said. "Mom came and picked her up."

"Your
mother knows where we are?"

"
She is sworn to secrecy."

I hugged them all, then sat down on the sofa. "Now what?"

"Now we party!" Angel said. "We can watch movies or play any games you want."

We curled up together on the sofa and put on some movies. They also pampered me, giving me anything I wanted.
I turned Elisabeth's offer down twice more, not bothering to counter offer. She wasn't coming down on her price. Then she called me again, coming down slightly.

"
Little Fox," she said. "Your house and your throat to three of us of our choice."

"My cash is worth more than my house," I said.

"That's the offer," Elisabeth said. "You should accept it."

I listened carefully to Elisabeth's tone. "Why my house?"

"That's the offer."

"What if I offered my cash and my throat to three of you?"

"Your house, Little Fox," she said. "And your throat to three of us. Accept the offer, Michaela."

I thought about it. "My house and my throat to one of you of my choosing."

"No. Take our offer, Michaela."

"Which three?"

"Me, Serena, Karen."

"The three active enforcers."

"Yes," she said. "It's time to say yes, Michaela."

"Angel told me Lara's goal is to get you down to one dollar. We're a long way from that."

"That's Lara's goal," Elisabeth admitted. "My next offer will be your throat to every enforcer in the pack and every dollar you own. I will then drop my price by one dollar every time I call you. I promised Lara I won't send you video until ten PM tonight. You will cave on the first video and beg to give me anything I ask. She paid a significant price for you, and you will pay a significant price for her. You will give me your house now or later, and if later, your throat to a lot more wolves than I am currently asking, but Lara will have been put through more than she should due to your stubbornness."

I wasn't the only one being stubborn.
"Why do you want this so badly, Elisabeth?"

"Take the offer."

I thought about it. I didn't understand why she wanted my house. It couldn't be worth much to her, but it was worth a lot to me. She was trying to take half my net worth. On the other side, I didn't live there anymore.

I was going to miss Bayfield.

"Elisabeth, by this time tomorrow, I will be married to the alpha. As omega and the alpha's mate, I owe my throat to no one beyond the alpha. My house. That is my offer."

She began laughing.
"Clever fox. Your house and a medium favor to each of us."

"What constitutes a medium favor?"

"A major favor means almost anything you are empowered to give that does not significantly weaken or impoverish you. A medium favor is something important, something that may be difficult for you, but nothing that would damage your standing in the pack or with any of the pack members. It might be your support on a political issue, for instance, or to appeal to the alpha for a favor. We can bank these and spend them when we need them."

"You can't use them to ask for my throat."

"No."

"If I accept, I no longer owe you my throat, Elisabeth."

"That is how I would interpret this agreement."

I considered everything. "Elisabeth, if I remain polite, may I speak plainly without reprisal?"

"Yes, Michaela."

"I didn't know about this custom, and I don't understand it completely. Please don't take offense, but I can't tell if you are trying to play me. Angel told me you would try to psych me out, and I'm not sure that's not what you're doing."

"I am trying to psych you out," she said. "I want you to take the offer now. Please, Michaela, it's time, and it's the right offer. Do you want five minutes to talk to everyone there?"

"May I?"

"I'll call back in five minutes. Please have an answer ready for me, and the right answer is to accept."

She hung up and I turned to the five expectant faces. I relayed the conversation to them.

Angel summed it up. "Michaela, she can't let you have the alpha, whose net worth is in the tens of millions of dollars, for the cash you own. She also wouldn't let you pay too soon, because that would dishonor Lara. And you know; it was important to her that you were offering your throat to her, and she gave that up. She's not trying to play you. I think you should pay."

We waited another minute before Angel's phone rang.

"Elisabeth?" I asked. "Do you want me to pay now?"

"Yes,
Little Fox," she said gently. "It is time."

"
All right," I said quietly. "My house and the five favors. May I talk to her?"

"Yes," Elisabeth said. I heard her walking through wherever she was, the background noises changing, and she descended some stairs. "Here she is."

"I love you," I told her. "I hope I didn't pay too early."

"Did you pay too much?" she asked me.

"I paid something important to me. You're worth it. I love you."

"I love you, too. I'll see you soon."

And then Elisabeth was on the line. "Put Angel on."

I handed the phone to Angel
. Elisabeth told her to take her time getting back to the compound and to get me cleaned up at her house, not Lara's. She'd make sure clothes were sent over. "Got it. An hour?"

"An hour is good," Elisabeth said. And the two hung up.

The girls all rushed around, cleaning the house. They ordered me to the sofa, and I complied. Once the space was clean, they plopped down on the sofa with me. I spent the time trying to put on a cheerful face. I wasn't sure how successful I was.

Scarlett joined me on the sofa. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know."

"Are you mad at us?"

"No."

I took a breath and held it, calming my nerves. Then I quickly kissed both of them and thanked them. "Time to go home?
"

Scarlett nodded.
"It is traditional that you are not to know where we brought you," she said. "You may now cooperate while we blindfold you and put the ear buds back in, or you can try to escape. If you try to escape and fail, we will tape you back up until we get back to the compound. If you cooperate and agree not to remove the blindfold or ear buds, we won't. I should tell you the door at the top of the stairs is locked."

I laughed.
It was a weak laugh, but a laugh nevertheless. "May I pick the music?"

"Yes," they said, chuckling. I let them put the ear buds in my ears, and then I accepted the iPod and found some music I liked. They blindfolded me after that then helped me stand up and guided me up the stairs, out of the house, and into the waiting car. This time, it wasn't the limousine. I sat in the middle seat between Scarlett and
Angel. I couldn't tell who else sat where.

The drive home was uneventful. They did the turn around thing at each turn. I tried to tell where the sun was based on the warmth on my skin, but I couldn't tell, and I couldn't have told you what direction we had gone.

I leaned into either Angel or Scarlett the entire drive, the other leaning against me. It had been a difficult day, but I felt loved and cherished.

They drove us to Madison and pulled into a drive through. Scarlett took the iPod from my hands and paused it, then pulled the ear buds from my ears. "We're at Dairy Queen. What would you like?"

"Cookies and cream blizzard," I said. "Small. And I won't finish it, so I hope one of you will take it when I'm done."

"We'll make it a large," Scarlett said. "Eat as much as you want, we'll finish it."

They placed their orders, we waited, and then Scarlett handed me my blizzard and a spoon. "It's about to run over the edge, let me help with your first few spoons." And she did, scooping carefully. "Okay, you're safe now."

We drove away. They didn't replace the ear buds
, but they kept me blindfolded.

"If we just hit the DQ in Madison, why am I still blindfolded?"

Scarlett laughed. "Because we can. Leave it on."

But they included me
in the conversation during the drive we took back to the compound. I could tell we arrived from a different direction than I was accustomed. I had been to Francesca's house, but I'd never driven to it. We came to a stop. The girls piled out and helped me climb from the car. They led me into the house and to one of the bathrooms. I didn't hear Gia or Francesca.

Angel reached up and removed my blindfold. I blinked in the light, then hugged her.

"I'm free?"

"Almost," she said. "
You need to clean up first," she said. "And a little business to take care of. Then there's a party. You may take as long as you want in here, but we all need to clean up, and it might be deemed mildly petty if you used all the hot water."

I laughed.

"I'm not going to rush."

"No one expects you to, Michaela. Please do not escape though. I know you could, but let us take you to Lara. Come downstairs when you're done."

"All right."

She left. I climbed out of the clothes, verified there were things waiting for me to wear, and climbed into the shower.

I washed thoroughly. It wasn't true that I didn't heal when I shift, but I don't heal as much as a wolf does. I shifted to fox, and that eased some of the tenderness. A shift back to human, and a soak under the water, clean hair, and I felt good.

I took my time in front of the mirror, trying to determine where they had taken the hair. I
could tell by feel, two small spots, but not by looking at it. I couldn't tell where any had been pulled out. I dressed and partially dried my hair. I tidied the bathroom and headed downstairs.

Several of the girls had gone home to clean up. "We'll wait for them here," Angel said. "Your turn, Ava."

Angel and Sophia continued to pamper me, giving me anything I wanted and talking about any subject I brought up.

Ava finished her shower quickly and called down to Sophia. "Shower is free." And it was just Angel with me.

"Are you upset?" she asked me once we were alone.

"
Not with you guys."

"But with Elisabeth?"

I nodded. "She let me know I'm not good enough for her sister."

"She did not."

"Yes, Angel, she did."

Angel didn't respond to that
"But we're good?"

"We're good
." I paused. "Did Lara really ask for all this you did to me? The-" I blushed. "The piercings and stuff?"

"She didn't ask. She was drunk and admitted a bunch of things she thought were sexy. It was a few years ago, before she had met you. She mentioned things we couldn't have done to you."

"I'm not her perfect woman?"

"You weren't what she imagined back then. I bet she's changed her opinion on what is perfect since she's met you."

"When did you first want me to give in?"

"When we threatened to spin you. And then once we knew it freaked you out so badly, we kept coming back to it. Everything before that was for Lara, but I bet she'll still be surprised. We didn't go out of our way to show her some of the things. She doesn't know we waxed you."

"Barbaric custom," I said.

She smiled. "You see how Lara responds and decide what you think about it after that."

Ava and Sophia came downstairs together. Angel got up. "Please stay here until everyone is together, Michaela."

"I will."

Angel ran upstairs. While she was in the shower, Scarlett, Abigail and Chloe rejoined us, arriving together. Angel was quick in the shower, and soon our original group was together.

Chloe hugged me. "Abigail said you were very brave."

"Not as brave as a wolf," I said.

"Not true," Abigail said. "
I think you were brave."

"All right,"
Angel said, and suddenly the girls were crowding me, all of them except Chloe. Angel faced me, and four pairs of strong wolf hands clasped my arms. "Michaela, Lara has technically not paid for you yet, and you have technically not paid for her yet, either. You have both only agreed, but sometimes people try to back out once they feel safe."

"You know neither of us would do that!"

"Of course not, but traditions must be met." She smiled. "It's more fun if you struggle now."

"Oh god," I said, and I immediately tried to pull out of their hands. I was giggling though. It didn't do me any good. They picked me up until my feet were waving in the air. Angel dropped down in front of me, grabbed my swinging legs, pulled them into a hug, and then wrapped rope around them, tying them off. T
hey set me back down and made me cross my wrists in front of me. Angel tied my wrists together, and her knots were tight. Scarlett pulled the blindfold over my eyes again, and they picked me up, carrying me on their shoulders.